This looks like a daggum dinosaur.
As somebody who doesn’t live near the coast, seeing a small alligator is enough to give me goosebumps.
So needless to say, I’d probably pass out in fear if I came across a 900-pound gator staring me straight in the eyes.
But speaking of 900-pound gators, a couple of hunters were able to harvest one of this size near Orlando, Florida, and it just might be the second largest gator ever caught in Florida.
One of the hunters was Florida guide Capt. Kevin Brotz, who owns and operates GetBit Outdoors, along with buddies Carson Gore and Darren Field.
According to Outdoor Life, Gore had some leftover tags, and gave one to Brotz, so the three set out on the lake Brotz had been wanting to explore for awhile.
Brotz told the outlet:
“I knew that area had potential, but I had never hunted this exact spot and I didn’t know he was there. When we saw the gator, we spotted him a few hours into the hunt.
I thought he was nine to 10 feet, maybe 11.”
Field was able to get the first hook in the gator, and surprisingly enough it didn’t budge, even after Brotz got a second hook in it, and the creature remained at the bottom of the lake.
Brotz continued:
“Typically, you hook an alligator and he’s gonna pull drag and spin the boat around just like a big fish would. And when you hook them a second time, they really blow up.”
It took them three to four hours, and all the lines they had in the boat, to try to get this beast to the surface… and when he finally broke the surface,
Brotz said:
“I look on the opposite side of the boat not five feet away, and he porpoises up out of the water like a whale. I could see the top of his front shoulders, and he was three to four feet out of the water.
We’re standing in the bottom of the johnboat, and I’m only 5 foot 3, so I was eye-to-eye with what felt like a T-Rex.”
They spent a half hour untangling the gator before being able to drag it to the nearest bank, and that’s when they had to get the creature in the boat.
They were able to weigh the gator the next morning at a scrapyard, where it was hoisted up by a forklift, where it was then able to get weighed on a certified scale, where it was weighed at 920-pounds.
It very well could be the second heaviest gator in Florida history, only behind a 1,043 pounder that was caught back in 1977.
The fellas spoke to CBS News about their catch as well:
